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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Raw Caramel Dip for Apples

Happy Autumnal Equinox! As the evenings become as crisp as the apples, darkness begins to triumph over light. Today we celebrate the closure of summer, the dying of the light, and prepare ourselves for a new season. Autumn. As the trees shed their leaves and the plants die back, shedding old beliefs or thought patterns and going inward to feel our roots, our connection with the earth, can be quite powerful at this time.

Last night I was part of an equinox celebration (albeit a day early). The night was crisp and the sky crystal clear with the moon almost full. A warm fire, songs, and good food shared amongst friends composed most of our celebration. One friend brought a delectable raw caramel dip and sliced fresh apples. It was so tasty that I tried to recreate it today. Success! It tastes very close to her recipe (thanks Janet). Enjoy!

Raw Caramel Dip

This dip is very easy to make, you just need a few hours for the dates and cashews to soak. And I suppose it isn't technically "raw" because it contains maple syrup and cashews that are not truly raw. You can also thin this out with extra water and drizzle it over your favorite dessert.

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup medjool dates, pitted (about 8 to 10 dates)

1/4 cup grade B maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

pinch sea salt

date soaking water as needed

Place the cashews into a small bowl and cover with water. Let soak at room temp for about 2 to 3 hours. Place the pitted dates into a separate small bowl and cover with water. Let soak for about 2 to 3 hours.

To make the dip, drain and rinse the cashews then place them into a blender or Vita-Mix along with the dates (save the water), maple syrup, vanilla, and salt. Add about 6 to 8 tablespoons of the date soaking water and blend. Blend until ultra smooth, scraping down the sides if needed.

Scoop out into small bowls and serve with sliced fresh apples. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

Brilliant, Ali! I know I would love this. I can't really tolerate the typical caramel any more ... just way too sweet and not healthy like this version. I truly can't wait to make this recipe! Happy Autumnal Equinox to you, too!

Ali, this is perfect timing. I have a recipe for an upside down Apple "cake" (in quotes because it is actually pretty healthy) that I have been wanting to make for a while. I had thought that a drizzle of caramel would be perfect for it. This will be the perfect finish for it to keep with my healthier version!

Eating this right now and am bringing some over to my neighbor. This recipe is a treasure and a real treat. I don't need to cock my head to one side and close one eye to get it to taste "normal." It is amazing. Quite possibly my new addiction. Thank you.

Hi Ali and Tom! I'm a huge fan of your blog! I've tried almost all of your sweet recipes. I am lactose and casein intolerant and in my country (Chile) there are almost non dairy free treats at the supermarkets. I am sixteen, and in my hole life I had never go to a party or birthday without suffering because I can't have a slice of pizza or some cake.So it's a pleasure to discover every day that I can cook healthy and delicious meals with no problem. Thank you so so so much, for sharing all these goodies and post them. You are my favorite chefs EVER!

Ahhhh, so luscious! I am so running out of snack time ideas ... the kids and I inhaled a bag of Glutino pretzels today ... NOT good, so empty. I will try this one ... and so excited about apples coming into season.

I love treats like this. Mejool dates and their soaking water blend up well with so many concoctions. Just by changing the nuts, adding cinnamon, tweaking the "sweetness" and so on -- you end up with several different options. A good mejool date tastes like caramel to me to begin with, so they make a perfect "launching pad" for all kinds of treats. I must try this cashew combo. Sounds great!Melissa

My wife made this, and like everything she does, she adjusted it, this time she thinned it down for a salad dressing: shredded carrots, beets, cabbage; bed of lettuce, onion and garlic; and a cup of cooked rice. It was mostly raw and very, very filling. We had some apple slices with the dip, as well, and really enjoyed it that way, too. Amazingly good food.

Thank you so much for this recipe. I have a little girl who is Failure to Thrive and gluten free. It is so hard to find healthy foods with good nutrition that are calorie dense that she will eat. This was a hit. She skipped the apples and ate it with a spoon. Thanks so much. We love the Avocado Fudgesicles too.

SO GOOD!!! I whipped this up for my ladies bible study, and it was a huge hit. Even my husband loved it, and that's saying something. Can't wait to try this on my GF waffles on Saturday morning... Going into my first Fall eating GF, I was worried I'd have few options, but obviously I was wrong!

This was delicious! I used my food processor and it turned out great. One of these days I would like to add unsweetened coconut and some pecans and top a chocolate cake with it. A better version of german chocolate cake. Thanks so much. I have enjoyed this site and your book.

This looks awesome! I was craving caramel dip this weekend, but I refuse to buy the junk at the store and I didn't feel like taking the time to make a batch at home. This is perfect - healthy and will soothe my craving!

glad you linked this up to GF Holiday! I made this not long ago and it was GREAT! Do you have other ideas for it besides as an apple dip? Cause I made a LOT, and it's so rich, you can't exactly eat a bunch at once. I do want to make it again when our kids spend a week with us at Christmas, so they have munchies!

Hello,Just wondering if other kinds of dates will work with this. I can't remember the variety I have at home but it's a large container from Costco and I use them often for baking/sweetening recipes. You specified medjool so I wanted to check. Thanks!

Hi there - this looks wonderful! I am interested to know if you can dip whole apples in this and refrigerate? Will the dip become to hard? I wanted to make this tonight, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Thanks so much,Sherrie from Living Simply Gluten Freewww.livingsimplyglutenfree.com

Hello! Thank you so much for blogging! I have learned so much from reading everything you posted.

I was wondering if another nut could be used instead of cashews? I am allergic to cashews and pistachios, mangoes and am gluten intolerant. My daughter is allergic to peanuts, fish, wheat, and chicken eggs and my husband is intolerant to apples. My son is also gluten intolerant and allergic to mangoes.

This looks amazing, I just don't know enough about the properties of cashews and don't know if another nut would be okay to substitute.

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This blog was created by Ali and Tom of Whole Life Nutrition. We offer healthy whole foods recipes that happen to be gluten-free. Having 5 children, our focus tends to revolve around raising healthy kids. We also specialize in elimination diets, gluten sensitivity, and celiac disease.